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I was almost about to miss this month Mixology Monday.. I love contributing to this little yet ever-growing community, but recently my time has been devoted entirely to organize the imminent opening of my very own bar, slated for January. I thought I would have spent sleepless nights on creating menus, mixing up all my favourite ingredients, shopping for exotic bottles, instead I found myself waiting in a different line everyday, almost losing my personal battle against Italian burocracy. Finally, late this afternoon, the Notary placed the last signature on the contract, so the cocktail brainstorming can now begin. It will take a while but bit by bit I will post all the recipes from the menu and the seasonal specials.
So, after all of this burocracy, three weeks later, it’s time for me to get reacquainted with the fine art of mixing drinks, and no occasion is better than a new MxMo project.
The theme for this month was chosen by Nick, of the Straight up blog,: anise, a spice fit for this season. Here we got his announcement post. Please take some time in reading Nick’s posts, as he writes one of the classiest booze blog around.
Here’s what I came up with this time:

Christmas is rushing toward us, we are about to get hit by the usual amount of advertising pressure and any bar you will walk into, for the next month or so, will offer any sort of drink, specifically modified and engineered to reflect this holiday spirit. Now, just before all this nonsense is about to begin, the guys from BoozeNerds give us the chance to focus on what really should be intertesting about this season: nature, and in this particular case, evergreens. Here’s the post for this Mixology Monday theme: resin. I must admit, this was a difficult subject to work with, but I am glad that Christa and Shaung took the time to come up with something so challenging. At this time of the year resin is all around us with the balsamic fragrance of pine oils, fir essence, dried pine-cones and toasted pine-nuts. Here in Italy we start our weekend trips up on the mountains, were we seek refuge in wooden chalets, drinking hard stuff while the fireplace is crackling. But we also must admit that evergreens and their byproducts are with us all year long, we just concentrate their use during colder months, because they warm our spirit up, they give us a pampering sensation, and most of all, they are part of a tradition.
KNOCK ON WOODContinue reading →

It’s a searing, steaming, scorching hot August here in Italy, and no climate could be more fitting for this month’s MxMo theme: FIRE!!
This time we have the honor of being led by Muse of Doom, one of the most talented bloggers in the booze-blogging universe, and here you can read all about the chosen theme. Make sure you pay her a visit every once in a while, because not only does she come up with great recipes and even better names, but she’s probably the most active person on the net in spreading other people’s word around.. a true Muse of this movement!!
I was worried about not having enough time to contribute, given that I spent my past two weeks on holidays, but luckily I managed to find some spare time as soon as I got back home, so fire away!!

Well it’s official, spring has disappeared. In less than a month we’ll know whether summer is about to pack up and leave as well. Usually, in this period of the year, I should be making fruity, refreshing, zingy drinks, but unfortunately Mother Nature is ruining my seasonal routine, scaring our customers with thunderstorms, flash floods and December-like temperatures. Gone it’s my chance to serve something with fresh apricots, strawberries or cherries: even if they manage to ripe, they will taste like nothing, given the zero days of sun we’ve had in the past three months. I love to work with fresh produce but I got to admit that in these days I would rather sip on a steamy hot mulled wine, than chill myself with a beautiful exotic concoction served in a tiki mug.
A couple of days ago though, I got delivered a really nice and ripe pineapple (god only knows where it came from), and this put me back in a tiki mood, and although I am sure that no customer will dare ordering it, I decided to put myself in motion and to create something using ingredients typical of winter, but with an exotic flair.